


By Myth and Modal Melody

by canyousonicmedoctor



Category: Orphan Black (TV), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crossover, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 03:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canyousonicmedoctor/pseuds/canyousonicmedoctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She then knows what has been bothering her. It’s no wonder she’s been feeling it so strongly. The girl one lab station away from her has pale green skin and an array of snakes in place of her hair. It doesn’t take a god to figure out that the girl is Medusa. She isn’t sure what the other students in the room see but she barely manages to maintain a shriek of fright. She reaches under the table to feel for the bracelet her mother had given her before the quest quest when she was fifteen. It would turn into a shield and sword when she activated it, but she would rather not have to fight Medusa in front of the entire laboratory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Myth and Modal Melody

**Author's Note:**

> Be warned: this fic is 99% crack with some canon dialogue thrown in to help it along. The idea for Medusa!Cosima was Laur’s (thegeekmonkey.tumblr.com) so thanks for letting me borrow her! Title is from Frank Turner’s “Rivers”.

Delphine nervously spreads her lab equiptment out on the table in front of her. She isn’t sure what, but she can feel something is about to happen and it’s going to be bad. Years of constantly battling with monsters gives a person a sort of sixth sense about these things.

She tries to shake off the feeling in order to work on the assignment in front of her. She has to work extra hard to even read the document with her dyslexia getting in the way. It’s an accomplishment that she’s gotten this far in her studies at all- let alone lived this long.

She hadn’t asked to be born a demigod. Truthfully, she would have rather not have been. Everything is more complicated because of it. Every summer of her teenage years she spent at a special camp in the rural area outside of Paris. Camp Half-Blood was like a second home to her, but she couldn’t wait to get away. The moment she graduated secondary school, she moved to America in hopes of getting away from her life at camp and everything that came with it. Monsters didn’t bother her as much here as they did in France and she thanks the gods all the time for it.

However, now she can feel that there is something approaching but she isn’t sure what. She keeps glancing up from the papers in front of her to scan the lab area around her. On her third time doing so, she notices something to her left that she really wishes she hadn’t.

She then knows what has been bothering her. It’s no wonder she’s been feeling it so strongly. The girl one lab station away from her has pale green skin and an array of snakes in place of her hair. It doesn’t take a god to figure out that the girl is Medusa. She isn’t sure what the other students in the room see but she barely manages to maintain a shriek of fright. She reaches under the table to feel for the bracelet her mother had given her before the quest quest when she was fifteen. It would turn into a shield and sword when she activated it, but she would rather not have to fight Medusa in front of the entire laboratory.

Moving quickly, she shoves her papers into her bag and practically runs from the room. Her heart is racing a mile a minute, her insticts telling her to go back and fight even as her brain is happy to get as far away from the mythical monster as possible. She presses the button for the elevator and leans against the glass wall as she tries to catch her breath.

One thing she doesn’t understand is how she even exists, let alone what she’s doing in a college laboratory. Medusa was destroyed not too long ago and it should have taken more than five years for the gorgon to reform. And she hadn’t been wearing sunglasses or anything to keep her gaze from turning all the people in the lab to stone. She knows that she needs to find out what’s going on and soon before any other demigods stumble upon her.

As it turns out, Delphine doesn’t have to wait too long to talk to Medusa because as she’s willing the elevator to hurry up, she feels a tap on her shoulder. There’s the monster with her bag thrown over her shoulder and a paper in her hand that she is thrusting towards Delphine. “Hey sorry. You forgot this in the lab,” she explains with a smile as Delphine fights the urge to look away. “Full disclosure I did peek. You’re French. You have killer grades.”

Delphine tries not to simply stare at this girl, dumbfounded as to why she’s not trying to kill Delphine right then and there. Surely she can tell she’s a demigod. “Thank you,” she manages to mumble out as she takes her paper from Medusa.

“Are you okay? You look sort of pale,” the gorgon asks worriedly. Delphine tries not to laugh at the statement, knowing full well why she looks like she’s just seen a ghost. Or a rather frightening ancient creature.

“I’m sorry, I’m not usually like this,” she shrugs and pushes her transcript inside her bag.

Medusa seems oblivious to the fact that the source of Delphine’s fright is standing right in front of her as she continues to talk. “You’re in Microbiology II, right?”

“Yes Immunology. I study host-parasite relationships.” Delphine offers up the information in an effort to keep her side of the conversation from seeming stilted even as her head is reeling from the situation. The only thing going through her mind in wondering why this monster hasn’t tried to kill her yet. She hasn’t even shown any sign that she knows Delphine is a demigod.

“Oh, cool, cool. Yeah I’m Evo-Devo,” she responds with a smile. Delphine furrows her brow in a effort to remember what the shortened title stands for even as she tries not to laugh at the absurdity of Medusa taking a college class.

“Evolutionary Development,” Delphine says for confirmation, happy that she was able to figure it out and not look dumb in front of an extremely powerful monster.

“Yeah, yeah that’s what we call it here,” Medusa explains. Delphine watches as she speaks with her hands. She’s different than any other monster she has ever encountered before. She has heard tales of how cruel Medusa is and how bloodthirsty. Apparently they were all lies because she can’t tell when someone want to kill her- it’s happened many times before- and Medusa is definitely not giving off that signal.

“Delphine,” she introduces herself and holds out a hand to shake. Part of her wants to see if the gorgon will react to actually touching her or if she’ll try to attack once she’s gotten hold of her hand.

“Cosima,” Medusa- or not Medusa- responds and grips her hand like there’s nothing strange at all going on. The elevator doors open and Delphine steps inside.

“I’ll see you later then, Cosima,” she tells the girl. While one part of her is breathing a sigh of relief at making it out of there alive, another part hopes that her words come true. She feels an overwhelming need to know more about Cosima, the nice-version-of-Medusa girl.

* * *

Two days later Delphine is sitting in the library researching the gorgons. So far she hasn’t been able to find a wealth of information on them which isn’t very surprising. She sighs as she leafs through the book at hand. There are no accounts of any of the gorgon sisters having children yet Cosima doesn’t quite fit the classic gorgon description. She doesn’t turn people to stone when she looks at them and the snakes around her head seemed rather tame.

Frustrated, Delphine shuts the book roughly and scrubs a hand over her face. She’s looking at the notes she’s written down when she hears her name whispered beside her. “Hey Delphine.” She looks up and sees Cosima herself standing over her.

She hastily closes her notebook and puts it over the mythology book on the table to cover the title. “Bonjour Cosima,” she replies with an attempt at a friendly smile. She tries not to flinch when she sees the snakes that are settled around Cosima’s shoulders out of the corner of her eye.

“I’m bored,” Cosima sighs as Delphine scans the table for any other evidence of her research.

“Well, I haven’t had lunch yet,” she suggests. She had gotten out of class at 11:30 and she had come straight to the library. She hadn’t left since and it was past 1 now.

“Great, we could go get something to eat,” Cosima grins. Delphine notes that despite the obvious drawbacks, when Cosima smiles she is actually rather pretty. There goes the myth about gorgons being hideous creatures.

“Sounds great,” Delphine responds as she gathers up the papers and books littered across the table. “Just let me return these books and we can go.”

* * *

Delphine is giggling as she follows Cosima into her dorm room. It’s a bit bigger than the one Delphine has on the other side of the campus, but not by much.

She’s surprised at how well they had gotten on at lunch. After everything, she hadn’t been sure what to expect, but Cosima seemed to be just like any normal college student. Halfway through lunch, Delphine had found herself forgetting about the snakes and odd pigmentation of Cosima’s skin. It had felt like any normal lunch with a friend.

Going out to lunch and actually going into Cosima’s dorm room are two different things entirely though and Delphine hesitates in the doorway. “Are you coming in or what,” Cosima asks with her signature teasing grin.

“Actually, I have to go,” Delphine lies evasively. She suddenly feels nervous about going into the dorm room.

“Can’t you just come in for a minute?” Cosima asks. Delphine feels bad about just running off on her and gives in, pushing off the doorframe and stepping inside. The answering smile she gets from Cosima is worth it.

“Your room is very nice,” Delphine compliments as she looks around the inside. There is a desk in the center of the first room that she perches herself on in place of a chair.

“Yeah, I like it and it’s pretty big for a college dorm.” Cosima occupies the chair in front of her.

There’s a lull in the conversation while Cosima is looking around the room and Delphine is looking at Cosima.

Eventually Cosima speaks up, standing to face her as she focuses her attention back on Delphine. “Delphine,” she begins, her tone of voice sounding like she was introducing a very serious topic.

Before Cosima can continue the thought, Delphine hops down from the desk and moves towards the door. “I’m sorry I really do have to-”

“Don’t you think it’s time we admit what this is really about,” Cosima cuts over her. Delphine freezes even as she wants to shove the words back into Cosima’s mouth. She had been hoping they would just continue on this ruse of ignorance for at least a while longer.

“And what is that?” she asks, deciding to play dumb for as long as she can.

“The fact that you’re a daughter of Athena.” Delphine turns around slowly to face her, but Cosima continues before she has the chance to say a word. “And I’m the daughter of Medusa.” Thankfully the door was shut because if someone else in the dorm had heard that, they would have thought Cosima was insane.

“Then why haven’t you tried to kill me yet,” Delphine asks defiantly. The question has been burning in her brain since the moment she realized who Cosima was but she never found the opportunity to voice it until now.

“Don’t you get it? I’m not like my mother.” Cosima says the word with disdain. “I don’t want to be the monster she is,” she ventures on in a softer tone. “That’s why I don’t turn people to stone by looking at them. Turns out it’s a thing I can control,” she shrugs and flops back down into the chair.

Delphine had never heard of a monster- however loosely she uses the term in regards to Cosima- not wanting to kill demigods. Or at least cause a little chaos. “So you’re sort of the monster-turned-good then?” Delphine asks. Cosima visibly flinches at the word ‘monster’ and lets a resigned sigh escape her.

“That’s me.” She holds her hands out as if to say, ‘That’s about it’.

“I shouldn’t believe you, you know.” Delphine is much less relaxed than Cosima and has taken up pacing around the room. “All my life I’ve had to fight mon- er, things like your mother and yet you’re just somehow completely different?” She stops in front of Cosima’s chair to look at the girl. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Cosima stands up, ignoring the fact that she’s crowding Delphine’s personal space and getting angry that she refuses to believe her. “Well it’s the truth.” The usually dormant snakes around her head rear up hissing indignantly. “I’m not going to prove myself to you. I’ve done enough of that to last a lifetime.”

At that, Delphine deflates a little, understanding how hard of a time Cosima must have trying to convince other demigods and the like that she isn’t bad. At least she’s had the opportunity to actually spend time with her before they addressed the issue. “I’m sorry, Cosima. I did not mean to doubt you.”

Cosima sighs and runs her hand first over her face and then over the hissing snakes. Her touch calms them and they go back to resting down her back and against her shoulders. “It’s alright. I’m used to it. If you still need to leave, I’m not going to stop you,” she says and flicks her arm towards the door.

“I’m not going to go anywhere,” Delphine promises. Cosima glances at her in surprise and gratitude, her smile back in place. Delphine has never been happier to be the cause of it.

* * *

They end up studying together for most of the afternoon, sitting side by side at Cosima’s desk and taking rather frequent breaks to just chat. Now that they have the big issue out of the way, there’s no more tension between them. It makes it a lot easier to just talk.

“I’m from San Francisco,” Cosima tells Delphine after they’ve gone and grabbed some take out for dinner. They pass cartons of Chinese food between them as they eat their fill. Delphine recalls hearing that a there are an unusual amount of monsters centered around San Francisco, so it makes sense. “I usually don’t have trouble blending in with everyone else,” she shrugs between mouthfulls. “It’s usually only demigods that can see it.”

“Have you met many others before?” Delphine askes over the carton in her hand. She knows about the Camp Half-Blood in New York and that there’s a high concentration of demigods in America.

“Just a few. Never a daughter of Athena before,” Cosima grins, nudging Delphine’s leg with her own. “Technically, you should hate me,” Cosima reminds her. “What with everything that happened between Medusa and Poseidon and your mom.”

“I’m not one to hold a grudge, personally,” Delphine laughs. “Besides, I couldn’t hate you now that I know you,” she continues her joking demeanor still there but laced with seriousness.

“I’m glad,” Cosima agrees, her smile gone as she looks at Delphine seriously. “It would be totally discouraging if you did.”

Before Delphine asks what exactly it would be discouraging, Cosima leans in and kisses her gently. Delphine stiffens in shock and pulls away to give Cosima a look of surprise.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Cosima begins to apologize but Delphine cuts her off with a curt shake of her head. She just needs a moment and she needs Cosima to understand that. It’s nothing exactly because Cosima is a woman- that hardly matters. But she’s, well, Medusa’s child. Being friendly and this is completely different.

Cosima is staring at her, biting her lip nervously while the snakes are peeking over her shoulders like they’re spying on something they shouldn’t be. Delphine might have found it funny if not for what had just happened. “Cosima,” she begins with a sigh. “I just...I have to go, okay?” she asks as she stands and grabs her bag by the door. “I’m sorry,” she breathes before scooting out of the door, leaving Cosima calling after her.

* * *

Delphine waits two days before seeing Cosima again. She had been so conflicted: on one hand, they shouldn’t even be friends, let alone anything more. On the other hand, she knew Cosima wasn’t what she appeared to be. Her instincts and all of her training was telling her no, but she didn’t really want to listen. Throughout those two days, she went over every possible reason why she and Cosima should and shouldn’t be together like this. She had made a decision and now all she has to do is tell Cosima.

She knocks softly on the door of Cosima’s dorm room. She waited until that evening so that Cosima would definitely be there, but if there is someone home, they’re taking a rather long time to answer the door. She’s just about to turn around and go back to her place when the door swings open. The sight of Cosima doesn’t even make her bat an eyelash anymore, at least in the negative way, and she takes that as a good sign.

“Hey, Delphine,” Cosima greets her, sounding surprised and a bit worried.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you...”

“No! No, impossible!” Cosima moves to the side to let Delphine slip past her. “So, apparently I’ve got this thing for like, uh, jumping to conclusions-”

“It’s just that I’ve never-” Delphine interrupts Cosima only to be interrupted herself.

“I know, I know. You’re not gay, and I’m a total idiot.” It’s said with a self-depreciating grin but Delphine can see how hurt Cosima really is.

“No, it’s not that,” Delphine shakes her head as she shrugs out of her coat. “I just don’t know how it could ever work,” she confesses. She knew how she felt about Cosima but how the rest of the world would see it...

“Because of what we are,” Cosima finishes for her, nodding understandingly. “I totally get it.”

“I wish it were different,” Delphine continues, a hand passing over her face as she feels frustration bubble up inside her. “I should be able to figure this out. I’m supposed to be wise.”

“There’s nothing to figure out. Don’t think about how other people will feel,” Cosima tells her. Delphine has always thought about how her actions will affect others, what she needs to do out of duty to the gods rather than what she wants. “That’s one thing I’ve learned. I can’t change what I am so why am I going to try?”

At the end of Cosima’s speech, Delphine can see how she’s right and she can’t help the smile that tugs at the corners of her mouth. It’s the best advice she has ever received and she has talked to her mother face to face before.

“Okay,” Delphine replies simply. She barely notices the passing look of confusion on Cosima’s face at her simple one word answer before she has her hands on both sides of the daughter of Medusa’s face and she, a daughter of Athena, is kissing her for all she is worth.

Even as all of her senses are focused on the beautiful girl pressed against her, Delphine could swear she hears a thousand happy little snake-sighs as Cosima melts against her.


End file.
